Stretching from sea to shining sea, millions of people and their cars travel to and from America’s National Parks each year. Unfortunately, these vehicles produce greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and pollutants that threaten the air quality of these national treasures. To reduce the environmental impacts of vehicles, the Energy Department’s Clean Cities program and the National Park Service (NPS) announced new projects at nine parks that will deploy alternative-fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles on the road, cut vehicle idling, and improve vehicle efficiency.

Clean Cities and NPS are also releasing a collection of outreach materials that all parks can use to engage visitors and staff on the benefits of fuel-efficient driving practices. The launch of the Green Rides Toolkit expands the long-time collaboration between Clean Cities and NPS. The Toolkit is a set of centralized educational materials addressing a variety of eco-friendly travel practices. These include reducing vehicle idling, developing green driving habits, using alternative fuels, driving more efficient vehicles, and adopting more sustainable forms of transportation such as mass transit, biking, and walking. Clean Cities and NPS created the Toolkit based on feedback from the 13 National Parks already partnering with Clean Cities to educate the public. For the complete story, see the EERE Blog.